Method and system for assigning tasks to workers

ABSTRACT

A method and system for assigning tasks can receive requested tasks, keep a requested-task queue, keep one or more worker statuses associated with respective workers, and assign the requested tasks from the requested-task queue to selected ones of the workers. In one embodiment, the requested tasks are telephone calls received by a network based contact center, and the workers are telephone agents associated with the network based contact center.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 10/638,619, filed Aug.11, 2003, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,263,183 on Aug. 28, 2007.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not Applicable.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to computer systems and methods and,more particularly, to computer systems and methods for assigning tasksto selected ones of a plurality of workers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In an organization having workers, a task can often be assigned to anyworker who is available to do the work. For example, in a law officehaving attorneys, legal work can be assigned to any attorney who is notalready busy or low on work. Many organizations have managers whomanually assign the tasks to the workers. Manual assignment can be aslow and tedious process that is not well suited to an organizationreceiving many tasks and having many workers.

Some organizations automate the assignment of tasks. For example anorganization can include a contact center, also referred to as acommunication center or a calling center, having workers (e.g., agents)to whom tasks (e.g., telephone calls) are automatically assigned.

A contact center will be recognized to be a system to which a personoutside the contact center can communicate to receive and/or transmitinformation. The person can communicate with the contact center in avariety of ways, including but not limited to, telephone calls, Internetaccess, E-mail, and facsimile.

Known contact centers can have many workers, referred to as agents, towhom a caller can be connected to in a telephone call. When the callerrequests a communication with an agent, the contact center automaticallyselects an agent from among many agents. The selection is based on avariety of factors, including telephone call queue (wait list) and agentavailability. A contact center agent can be viewed as a worker amongmany workers, to whom a requested task is assigned in the form of atelephone call from the caller.

A typical prior art contact center can include one or more interactivevoice response systems (IVR). The IVRs provide automatic branching voiceprompts to which the caller responds with button pushes on a telephonekeypad or with voice responses on a telephone. The contact center can beprovided having only the IVR systems, or alternatively, it can alsoprovided having agents. For example, at the end of the IVR branchingvoice queries, the caller can be directed to press zero to speak to anagent. The agent is a person having a telephone to talk to the caller,hereafter referred to as an “agent telephone,” and a computer to accessinformation about the caller, hereafter referred to as an “agentcomputer.” Note that though the agent telephone and the agent computerare often associated with one person, they can correspond to distinctelectronic systems and may be separately referred to herein.

Conventional contact centers can include a variety of complex andexpensive customer premise equipment (CPE). For example, such contactcenters can include one or more public exchange/automatic calldistributor PBX/ACD systems, one or more IVR systems, one or morecomputer telephony integration (CTI) systems, one or more agenttelephones, one or more agent computers, one or more database servercomputers, one or more database storage areas, one or more web servercomputers, and one or more E-mail server computers, each of which arefurther explained in conjunction with FIG. 1. Having such a contactcenter may require that an organization purchase and maintain the CPE.

A contact center can have a variety of groups, each of which hasspecific agents assigned to a group. For example, a contact center canhave a hardware support group, a software support group, a billinginquiry group, and an ordering processing group. Each one of the groupscan have, for example, fifty assigned agents available to answertelephone calls, each of whom are trained to answer questions pertainingto the group to which they are assigned.

The number of agents assigned to a group can change from time to time,for example as agents begin and finish their work hours. However, thenumber of agents working in association with a group is relativelystatic. The relatively static nature of the number of assigned agentscan, at times, cause excessively long telephone call queues andassociated wait times. For example, if the number of telephone calls toa group exceeds the capacity of the number of agents working inassociation with the group to answer telephone calls, a caller may haveto wait a long time before they are connected to an agent. When thetelephone call queues and associated wait times become excessively long,additional agents can be added to the group. However, the addition ofagents is a manual process requiring intervention by a contact centermanager.

Conventionally, the agent telephones are coupled to the contact centerby way of the PBX/ACD. As is known in the art, the PBX/ACD requires theagents to be physically present at the contact center in order toreceive the telephone calls. Therefore, addition of agents when thetelephone call queues and associated wait times become excessively longis difficult to achieve, since the addition of agents requires not onlyintervention by the contact center manager as described above, but alsorequires the additional agents to travel to the contact center.

In another conventional arrangement, agents are distributed among morethan one contact center. This is often done because of the limitationsof building size, but also because of the need to cover longer workinghours. In order to allow agents to work no more than 8 hours a day,companies often have contact centers on the east and west coasts. Withthis arrangement, calls can be routed by the public telephone networkpreferentially to an Eastern contact center from 8 AM to 11 AM EST, thenequally between Eastern and Western contact centers from 11 AM to 5 PM,then preferentially to the Western contact center from 5 PM to 8 PM EST,and then equally again during the night hours of 8 PM to 8 AM. With thisparticular arrangement, the public network is unaware of the queuelengths at the various contact centers and cannot balance the load sincesome calls may be longer than others resulting in random peaks andvalleys in agent availability.

In the conventional system described above, there is no mechanism torebalance the load among different contact centers. Therefore, in thenatural course of call processing, different contact centers may havedifferent queue lengths.

It would, therefore, be desirable to overcome the aforesaid and otherdisadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and a system by which taskassignments associated with an organization can be automaticallyprovided to workers physically remote from the organization. Whenapplied to the functions of a contact center, the present inventionprovides a method and a system by which telephone calls can be assignedto agents remote from the contact center. The agents can either becollocated or dispersed. The method and system of the present inventionprovide a reduction of or an elimination of customer premise equipment(CPE) conventionally associated with the contact center. While theinvention is primarily shown and described in conjunction with a contactcenter, it should be understood that the invention applies to anyorganization receiving tasks that can be assigned to a variety ofworkers.

In one aspect of the invention, a method for assigning requested tasksassociated with an organization includes providing at least one of anautomatic task distributor (ATD) group manager and a worker manager,registering at least one of the ATD group manager and the worker managerwith a presence server to provide information to the presence server,and subscribing at least one of the ATD group manager and the workermanager with the presence server to receive information from thepresence server. In one embodiment, the ATD group manager and the workermanager communicate with the presence server using an instant messagingprotocol. In one particular embodiment, the organization is a contactcenter, the ATD group manager is an automatic call distributor (ACD)group manager, the worker manager is an agent manager, and the requestedtasks are requested telephone calls associated with the contact center.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method forassigning requested tasks associated with an organization includes amachine readable medium having computer readable code for enabling aprocessor to perform steps including providing an automatic taskdistributor (ATD) group manager, registering the ATD group manager witha presence server to provide information to the presence server, andsubscribing the ATD group manager with the presence server to receiveinformation from the presence server. In one embodiment, the ATD groupmanager communicates with the presence server using an instant messageprotocol. In one particular embodiment, the organization is a contactcenter, the ATD group manager is an automatic call distributor (ACD)group manager, and the requested tasks are requested telephone callsassociated with the contact center.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a methodfor assigning requested tasks associated with an organization includes amachine readable medium having computer readable code for enabling aprocessor to perform steps including providing a worker manager,registering the worker manager with a presence server to provideinformation to the presence server, and subscribing the worker managerwith the presence server to receive information from the presenceserver. In one embodiment, the worker manager communicates with thepresence server using an instant message protocol. In one particularembodiment, the organization is a contact center, the worker manager isan agent manager, and the requested tasks are requested telephone callsassociated with the contact center.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a systemfor assigning requested work includes at least one of an automatic taskdistributor (ATD) group manager component adapted to communicate with apresence server component in order to recognize when a worker is presentand available and to route a requested task to the worker, a workermanager component adapted to communicate with the presence servercomponent in order to recognize that the ATD group manager is present,and the presence server component.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing features of the invention, as well as the invention itselfmay be more fully understood from the following detailed description ofthe drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a prior art contact center;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an exemplary instant message systemflow in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a communication method used inassociation with the illustrative instant message flow of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for assignment ofrequested tasks in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an exemplary method associated with theexemplary system of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for assignment oftelephone calls to contact center agents in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing an exemplary method associated with theexemplary system of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a pictorial of an exemplary dashboard having a graphical userinterface in accordance with the system of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Before describing the method and system for assigning tasks to workers,some introductory concepts and terminology are explained. In particular,a prior art “contact center” is described below in conjunction withFIG. 1. Also, a prior art “instant message” system is described below inconjunction with FIG. 2.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a prior art contact center 10, also referred toas a calling center or a communication center, is connected to a publicswitched telephone network 12 (PSTN). The PSTN will be recognized to bea worldwide telephone system that provides telephone call connectionsincluding telephone call connections to a contact center 14. The contactcenter 14 can include a private branch exchange 16 (PBX) usuallycombined with an automatic call distributor 16 (ACD). The PBX 16 will berecognized to be a system that can route incoming telephone calls tointended call recipients, or agents. The ACD 16 will be recognized to bea system that can provide telephone call queuing and automatic waithandling of incoming telephone calls. The PBX/ACD 16 can be coupled toone or more interactive voice response systems 18 (IVR). The IVR 18 willbe recognized to be a system that provides voice queries to a telephonecaller. Voice queries typically direct the telephone caller through aseries of selections that can be chosen by the telephone caller viabutton pushes on the telephone keypad. Voice queries typically directthe telephone call through a serious of questions and prompts todetermine the nature and/or intent of the call, and may be chosen by thetelephone caller via button pushes on the telephone keypad and/or via aspeech recognition system.

Within the IVR queries, the telephone caller can be directed by the IVR18 to select an option that connects the telephone caller, via thePBX/ACD 16, to one of a group of agents 20. The agents 20 can haveaccess to agent telephones, of which agent telephone 22 isrepresentative of all agent telephones. The agents 20 can also haveaccess to agent computers, of which agent computer 24 is representativeof all agent computers.

The PBX/ACD 16 is further coupled to a network 26, which couplestogether the PBX/ACD 16, the agent computers, for example agent computer24, a computer telephony integration (CTI) server 28, an applicationserver 30, a database server 32, a web server 34, and an E-mail server36. The network 26 can, for example, correspond to an Ethernet localarea network.

The IVR 18 can, among the IVR selections offered, request that thetelephone caller enter “identifying information,” for example an accountnumber, by button pushes on the telephone keypad or by voice responsesfrom the telephone caller. Identifying information can also beautomatically provided by the PBX/ACD 16 without entry by the telephonecaller with a variety of methods, including a dialed numberidentification service (DNIS) and an automatic number identification(ANI). The identifying information is passed through the PBX/ACD 16 tothe network 26. The CTI 28 receives the identifying information andcoordinates the identifying information with “caller data,” for exampleaccount history associated with the telephone caller, contained in thedatabase server 32. An application program in the application server 30,can automatically provide a display of the caller data in a “screen pop”to the agent disposed upon the agent computer 24. Alternatively, theapplication program can reside within the agent computer 24.

When a contact center has no CTI 28, or if the screen pop is delayed bysystem data flow bottlenecks, the agent can manually identify thetelephone caller using the agent computer 24 by entering the identifyinginformation via the keyboard of the agent computer 24.

The contact center 14 can also be accessed via the Internet 37, forexample by a web user who accesses a web page associated with thecontact center. The web user, via the Internet 37, connects to the webserver 34 for web page access. The web user can also be an E-mail user,in which case the E-mail user connects to the E-mail server 36 via theInternet 37. While web page access and E-mail access have been describedherein, the invention is not limited to only these specific Internetapplications. A variety of Internet applications can access a variety ofservers within the contact center 14.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a prior art instant message system 50 includesa presence entity 52, also referred to as a “presentity,” coupled to apresence server 58, which is coupled to a watcher 66. Particularcommunications between the presence entity 52, the presence server 58,and the watcher 66 are indicated by connecting arrows.

The presence entity 52 registers with the presence server 58 by way of a“register” communication 56. The register communication 56 allows thepresence server to recognize that the presence entity 52 is present andable to communicate with the presence server. The register communication56 can also provide “status” information, also referred to as “state”information herein, to the presence server 58 about the presence entity52. For example, the status information can include an identity of thepresence entity 52 and can include an indication that the presenceentity 52 is currently connected to the presence sever 58. For the priorart arrangement shown, the status information is limited to certaintypes of information, for example, an availability of the presenceentity 52 to communicate in an instant message. The status informationis saved by the presence server 58, providing some or all of a “state”60 associated with the presence entity 52.

The watcher 66 subscribes with the presence server 58 by way of a“subscribe” communication 64. By so subscribing, the watcher 66 is ableto receive the state 60 associated with the presence entity 52 from thepresence server 58. Therefore, the watcher 66 is able to recognize thatthe presence entity 52 is currently connected to the presence server 58and is also able to identify the presence entity 52. The watcher isfurther able to recognize any of the other state information 60 providedto the presence server 58 by the presence entity 52.

At any time, or at any change of status, the presence entity 52 cannotify the presence server 58, by way of a “notify” communication 54,that a change has occurred in the status of the presence entity 52. Forexample, the presence entity can communicate to the presence server 58that a status associated with the presence entity 52 has changed fromavailable to busy. In response to the notification 54, the presenceserver 56 can notify the watcher 66, by way of a notify communication62, that the change of the status has occurred in the presence entity52.

While one watcher 66 has been described above, it should be understoodthat any number of watchers can subscribe with the presence server 58 inorder to receive the state information 60 associated with the presenceentity 52. The one watcher 66 can also subscribe with one or more otherpresence servers (not shown). Similarly, any number of watchers can benotified of changes of status in the presence entity 52.

While one presence entity 52 is shown, it should be understood that anynumber of presence entities can register with the presence server 58.When more than one presence entity is registered with the presenceserver 58, state information 60 associated with each of the more thanone presence entities is saved by the presence server 58. The watcher 66can subscribe to receive state information pertaining to selected onesof the more than one presence entity. In this way, the subscribing canbe seen to be similar to a “buddy list,” recognized to be part of aconventional instant message application.

Also, while the presence entity 52 is shown to be separate from thewatcher 66, the presence entity 52 can simultaneously be a watcher whichsubscribes with the presence server 58 in order to receive stateinformation pertaining to other presence entities. Similarly, thewatcher 66 can also be a presence entity, which registers with thepresence server 58 in order to give state information to the presenceserver, which is therefore available to watchers.

The above describes part of a conventional instant message arrangement,having communications typical of known instant message communicationsystems and formats. When the communications are provided having aninstant message format, the presence server 58 can be an instant messageserver.

There are a wide variety of instant message formats. An InstantMessaging and Presence Protocol (IMPP) working group within the InternetEngineering Task Force (IETF), is establishing a presence standardaround a Common Presence and Instant Messaging Protocol (CPIM). The IMPPmembers include Microsoft®, which promotes Microsoft Network (MSN®), andLotus®, which promotes Sametime®. The IMPP has proposed a model forpresence communication and instant messaging as a Request for Comments(RFC) 2778, and also has proposed a set of requirements as an RFC 2779.

Not all instant message providers promote the formats proposed by theIMPP working group described above. For example, America Online (AOL®)promotes AOL® Instant Messenger (AIM®), Yahoo® promotes YahooMessenger®, and ICQ®, Inc. promotes ICQ forms of instant messagecommunications. An opensource community promotes another form of instantmessage communications called Jabber. A session initiation protocol(SIP) working group has also proposed an extension to SIP, referred toas SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions(SIMPLE), wherein the extension would provide instant messagingcommunications. Also there is an extensible markup presence protocol(XMPP) that supports instant messaging.

All of the above formats follow the general pattern of registering,subscribing, and notifying described in conjunction with FIG. 2. One ofordinary skill in the art will also understand that is it possible toprovide bridges between the formats in order to make the formatsinteroperable on one network.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a prior art method 70 provides instant messagecommunication in accordance with the system of FIG. 2. At step 72, apresence entity (e.g., 52, FIG. 2) registers with the presence server(e.g., 58, FIG. 2). As described above, the registering step providesall or part of state information (e.g., 60, FIG. 2) to the presencesever 58.

At step 74, a watcher (e.g., 66, FIG. 2) subscribes with the presenceserver, in order to receive the state information pertaining to thepresence entity. As described above, the subscribing step 74 providesthe watcher with the ability to receive state information associatedwith the presence entity from the presence server.

The presence server receives notification (e.g., 54, FIG. 2) at step 76from the presence entity associated with a change in state of thepresence entity. As described above, the change in state can be, forexample, a change in availability of the presence entity. Then, at step78, the presence server notifies the watcher of the change in stateassociated with the presence entity.

The method 70 describes an arrangement having a presence entity andhaving a watcher. As described above, the presence entity can also be awatcher and the watcher can also be a presence entity. Also, in otherarrangements, there can be any number of presence entities and anynumber of watchers.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an exemplary task assignment system 100 inaccordance with the present invention includes one or more automatictask distributor (ATD) group manager components 102 a-102 c. The ATDgroup manager component 102 a is representative of all such ATD groupmanager components and has modules the same as or similar to modulesprovided in others of the ATD group manager components 102 b, 102 c.While three ATD group manager components 102 a-102 c are shown, in otherembodiments, the system 100 can include fewer than three or more thanthree ATD group manager components.

The ATD group manager component 102 a includes a roster module 104,having a list of workers. The roster module 104 provides the list ofworkers to a worker monitor module 108 upon request. The worker monitormodule 108 contains information associated with states, also referred toas statuses, of the workers. The worker monitor module 108 provides thelist of the workers and the states of the workers to a queue statusmodule 116. The queue status module 116 contains a requested-task queueassociated with requested tasks presented to the system 100. The queuestatus module 116 combines the list of workers, the states of theworkers, and the requested-task queue and provides the combinedinformation to a task router module 122.

The ATD group manager component 102 a, the worker monitor module 108,and the queue status module 116 are each coupled to a presence server136. The coupling is indicated by arrows associated with a “register”signal 128, a “subscribe” signal 130, a worker monitor “notify” signal132 and a queue status “notify” signal 133. While the signals 128, 130,132, 133 are shown to separately couple to the presence server 136, itshould be understood that the signals can be provided as a singlecoupling having the register signal 128, the subscribe signal 130, thenotify signal 132, and the notify signal 133. For example, the registersignal 128, the subscribe signal 130, the notify signal 132, and thenotify signal 133 can be coupled to the presence server 136 through anetwork, such as through the Internet (not shown).

The task router module 122 is coupled to a network 138 via a “query”signal 124 and a “redirect” signal 126. While the signals 124, 126 areshown to separately couple the task router 122 to the network 138, itshould be understood that the signals 124, 126 can be provided as asingle coupling having the query signal 124 and the redirect signal 126.The network can be a voice network, for example a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN). In another embodiment, the network 138 is adigital network, for example, the Internet. Further network types willbe readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.

The system 100 also includes one or more worker manager components 152a-152 c. The worker manager component 152 a is representative of allsuch worker manager components and is described herein to have modulesthe same as or similar to modules provided in others of the workermanager components 152 b, 152 c. While three worker manager components152 a-152 c are shown, in other embodiments, the system 100 can includefewer than three or more than three worker manager components.

The worker manager component 152 a includes a task handler module 170coupled to a worker status module 162. The worker status module 162 iscoupled to a queue monitor module 158, which is coupled to a dashboard154, for presenting a graphical user interface (not shown) to a worker.The task handler module 170 directs a task 174 to the worker. The taskhandler module 170 is coupled to the network 138 for receiving querysignal 150.

The worker manager component 152 a, the queue monitor module 158, andthe worker status module 162 are each coupled to the presence server136. The coupling is indicated by arrows associated with a “register”signal 144, a “subscribe” signal 146, a “notify” signal 148, and a“notify” signal 149. While the signals 144, 146, 148, 149 are shown toseparately couple to the presence server 136, it should be understoodthat the signals 144, 146, 148, 149 can be provided as a single couplinghaving the register signal 144, the subscribe signal 146, the notifysignal 148, and the notify signal 149 therein. For example, the registersignal 144, the subscribe signal 146, the notify signal 148, and thenotify signal 149 can be coupled to the presence server 136 through anetwork, such as through the Internet (not shown).

In operation, the ATD group manager component 102 a operates as both apresence entity and as a watcher. Similarly, the worker managercomponent 152 a operates as both a presence entity and a watcher.Presence entity and watcher functions are described above in conjunctionwith FIGS. 2 and 3. Operating as presence entities, both the ATD groupmanager component 102 a and the worker manager component 152 a registerwith the presence server 136 by way of the register signal 128 and theregister signal 144 respectively. In so registering, the presence server136 is able to recognize that the ATD group manager component 102 a andthe worker manager component 152 a are both present and that both areable to communicate with the presence server 136. Also in soregistering, states associated with the ATD group manager component 102a and with the worker manager component 152 a are provided to thepresence server and stored in a states memory 134. A state associatedwith the worker manager component 152 a can include a variety ofinformation, including, but not limited to, an identity of the workermanager 152 a, an availability of the worker manager component 152 a(and a worker associated therewith) to perform a task, a capability ofthe worker associated with the worker manager component 152 a to performa task, and contact information associated with the worker managercomponent 152 a, for example, a telephone number. Similarly, a stateassociated with the ATD group manager component 102 a can include avariety of information, including, but not limited to, an identity ofthe ATD group manager component 102 a, and a requested-task-queue statusassociated with a number of requested tasks to be performed. Therequested tasks to be performed are herein referred to as therequested-task queue, and the number of requested tasks in therequested-task queue is herein referred to as the requested-task-queuestatus.

Once registered, the ATD group manager component 102 a and the workermanager component 152 a, and in particular, the worker monitor module108 and the queue monitor module 158, subscribe to the presence server.Subscribing allows the ATD group manager component 102 a and the workermanager component 152 a to become watchers, allowing each to receivestate, i.e. status, information about the other from the presence servercomponent 136. In particular, the queue monitor module 158 can receivestatus information associated with the queue status module 116 via thepresence server component 136 and the worker monitor module 108 canreceive status information associated with the worker status module 162,also via the presence server component 136.

When a requested task 142 is communicated to the network 138, therequested task 142 is communicated as the query signal 124 over thenetwork 138 to the task router module 122. As described above, the taskrouter module 122 receives the status information from the workermonitor module 108 associated with the status of the worker managercomponent 152 a, and in particular receives status informationassociated with an availability of the worker manager component 152 a(and a worker associated therewith) to perform a task. The task router122 receives from the queue status module 116 the requested-task queueincluding a waiting list of requested tasks not yet assigned to a workermanager component.

When the requested task 142 is received as the query signal 124 asdescribed above, the task router module 122 communicates the incomingrequested task to the queue status module 116. The queue status module116 adjusts the status of the appropriate task queue and communicates anotify signal 133 to the presence server component 136, indicating achange in status, i.e., a change in the requested-task-queue status,associated with the ATD group manager component 102 a, and the newrequested-task-queue status is saved in the states memory 134. Thepresence server component 136 communicates the new requested-task-queuestatus to the worker manager component 152 a as a notify signal 148.

If the queue status module 116 indicates that workers are available toact upon the request, the task router 122 is able to redirect the querysignal 124 to a worker manager component 152 a associated with a workeravailable to perform the requested task 142. The query signal 124 isacknowledged as a redirect signal 126 coupled to the network 138. Theredirect signal 126 emerges from the network 138 as a query signal 150coupled to the task handler module 170 within the worker managercomponent 152 a. The task handler module 170 directs the query 150 as atask 174 to a worker.

The task handler module 170 also communicates with the worker statusmodule 162, indicating that the worker manager component 152 a (and theworker associated therewith) is not presently available to performanother task. The worker status module 162 communicates a notify signal149 to the presence server 136, indicating a change a status, e.g., achange in availability associated with the worker manager component 152a. The new status is saved in the states memory 134. The presence servercomponent 136 communicates the new status to the ATD group managercomponent 108 as the notify signal 132.

With the above described arrangement, the ATD group manager component102 a and the worker manager component 152 a are each aware of thepresence of the other and each is notified about status of the other.

In one particular arrangement, the register signals 128, 144, thesubscribe signals 130, 146, and the notify signals 132, 133, 148, 149are provided as instant message signals. The format of the instantmessage signals can be one or more of a variety of types of instantmessage signals, including but not limited to Common Presence andInstant Messaging Protocol (CPIM) signals, America OnLine® InstantMessenger (AIM®) signals, Yahoo® Instant Messenger (YIM®) signals, ICQinstant message signals, Jabber instant message signals, extensiblemarkup presence protocol (XMPP) signals, and session initiation protocol(SIP) instant message signals.

The requested task 142 can be any type of requested task that can beperformed by a worker associated with the worker manager component 152a. For example, the requested task 142 can include legal work and theworker can be an attorney. For another example, the requested task 142can be a telephone call directed to a contact center and the worker canbe a contact center agent. The system 100 is applicable to anyorganization at which requested tasks are received, and wherein theorganization has one or more workers capable of performing the requestedtasks.

While the system 100 is described above to have a variety of componentsand modules, the system 100 can also depict a software arrangementhaving the ATD group manager component 102 a and the worker managercomponent 152 a, each having instructions for registering, subscribing,and notifying, for example, with an instant message format, to thepresence server 136.

In one embodiment, the worker manager component 152 a corresponds to apersonal computer, workstation, or the like, having software modulestherein, including the task handler module 170, the worker status module162, and the queue status module 158. Similarly, in one embodiment, theATD group manager component 102 a corresponds to a server computer,having software modules therein, including the task router module 122,the queue status module 116, the worker monitor module 108 and theroster module 104. In one embodiment, the presence server 136 is asingle server, for example an instant message server. However, it willbe recognized, that in other embodiments, selected ones of the taskrouter module 122, the queue status module 116, the worker monitormodule 108 and the roster module 104 can be within the presence servercomponent 136. Also, selected ones of the task handler modules 170, theworker status module 162, and the queue monitor module 158 can be withinthe presence server component 136. Other arrangements are also possiblewithout departing from the present invention.

As described above, the dashboard 154 presents a graphical userinterface (not shown) to a worker. The dashboard 154 can present avariety of information to the worker, including but not limited to, anidentity of one or more ATD group managers, for example, the identity ofthe ATD group manager component 102 a, and a requested-task-queuestatus, for example a value associated with a size of the requested-taskqueue or the length of time in queue of the oldest task contained in thequeue monitor module 158. The dashboard 154 is described in greaterdetail in conjunction with FIG. 8 below.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary method 200 associated with the system 100 ofFIG. 4. At step 202, at least one ATD group manager component isinvoked. The ATD group manager component can be the same as or similarto the ATD group manager component 102 a of FIG. 4. As described abovein conjunction with FIG. 4, the ATD group manager component 102 a canhave a variety of associated modules.

At step 204, at least one worker manager component is invoked. Theworker manager component can be the same as or similar to the workermanager component 152 a of FIG. 4. As described above in conjunctionwith FIG. 4, the worker manager component can have a variety ofassociated modules.

The ATD group manager registers with a presence server at step 206,thereby becoming a presence entity. The presence server can be the sameas or similar to the presence server component 136 of FIG. 1. Asdescribed above, registering the ATD group manager allows the presenceserver to recognize that the ATD group manager is present and alsocommunicates the requested-task-queue status to the presence server.

The worker manager registers with the presence server, thereby becominga presence entity at step 208. As described above, registering theworker manager allows the presence server to recognize that workermanager is present and also communicates worker status information tothe presence server. The worker status information includes, but is notlimited to, an availability of the worker to perform a task, and acapability of the worker to perform the requested task.

At step 210, the ATD group manager subscribes with the presence server,thereby becoming a watcher. The ATD group manager subscribes in order toreceive the worker status information from the presence server.

The worker manager subscribes with the presence server at step 212,thereby becoming a watcher. The worker manager subscribes in order toreceive the requested-task-queue status from the presence server.

A task router associated with the ATD group manager is notified of theworker status, and in particular is notified of the availability of theworker at step 214. The task router can be the same as or similar to thetask router module 122 shown in FIG. 4.

At step 216, the ATD group manager receives a requested task. The taskcan be any sort of task. For example, the task can be work which aworker associated with the worker manager is capable of performing.

The ATD group manager updates the requested-task queue associated withthe ATD group manager at step 218 to add the new requested task. At step220, the presence server is notified of the change in therequested-task-queue status by the ATD group manager. The worker manageris notified at step 222 of the change in the requested-task-queue statusby the presence server.

At step 224, information presented to the worker on a graphical userinterface is updated. The graphical user interface (GUI) can be the sameas or similar to the dashboard 154 shown in FIG. 4. The informationpresented to the worker on the graphical user display can include, butis not limited to, an identity of the ATD group manager, respectiveidentities of other ATD group managers, the requested-task-queue statusassociated with the ATD group manager, and other requested-task-queuestatuses associate with the other ATD group managers.

A decision is made by the ATD group manger at step 226, based upon theworker status presented to the ATD group manager at step 214. If theworker status, which includes the worker availability, indicates thatthe worker associated with the worker manager is available to performthe requested task, then the process continues to step 228. However, theworker status can include a variety of other information, including butnot limited to a capability of the worker to perform the requested task.In another embodiment, the process can continue to step 228 only if theworker is both available to perform the requested task and the worker isalso capable of performing the requested task.

At step 228, the requested task, received at step 216 by the ATD groupmanager, is re-directed to a task handler associated with the workermanager. The task handler can be the same as or similar to the taskhandler module 170 shown in FIG. 4.

The requested task is routed at step 230 from the task handler as a taskto the worker. The task can be the same as or similar to the task 174shown in FIG. 4. At step 232, the presence server is notified of achange in the worker status associated with the worker. In essence, theworker has now become unavailable.

The ATD group manager is notified by the presence server at step 234 ofthe change in the worker status. Therefore, the ATD group manger becomesaware that the worker is not presently available to receive anotherrequested task should one be presented to the ATD group manager. Ifanother requested task is received before the requested task iscompleted by the worker associated with the worker manager, the otherrequested task can be re-directed to another worker associated withanother worker manager.

The process loops at step 236 until the worker associated with theworker manager finishes the requested task and again becomes available.At step 238, the worker manager notifies the presence server when theworker associated with the worker manager completes the requested taskand again becomes available. The presence server notifies the ATD groupmanager at step 240 that the worker associated with the worker manageris available to receive another requested task.

If, at step 226, the worker is not available, the requested task isrouted to another task handler at step 242, associated with anotherworker manager and another worker. The steps 244-254 are comparable tothe steps 230-240 but apply to another worker rather than the workerdiscussed above. Therefore, steps 244-254 are not described in detail.

Referring now to FIG. 6, an exemplary system 300 in accordance with thepresent invention shows a particular example of the system of FIG. 4applied to a contact center. In FIG. 6, elements similar to those ofFIG. 4 should be readily apparent. The exemplary system 300 includes oneor more automatic call distributor (ACD) group manager components 352a-352 c. The ACD group manager component 302 a is representative of allsuch ACD group manager components and has modules the same as or similarto modules provided in others of the ACD group manager components 302 b,302 c. While three ACD group manager components 302 a-302 c are shown,in other embodiments, the system 300 can include fewer than three ormore than three ACD group manager components.

The ACD group manager component 302 a includes a roster module 304,having a list of agents therein. The roster module 304 provides the listof agents to an agent monitor module 308 upon request. The agent monitormodule 308 contains information associated with states of the agents.The agent monitor module 308 provides the list of the agents and thestates of the agents to a queue status module 316. The queue statusmodule 316 contains a requested-telephone-call queue associated withrequested telephone calls presented to the system 300. The queue statusmodule 316 combines the list of agents, the status of the agents, andthe requested-telephone-call queue and provides the combined informationto a call router module 322.

The ACD group manager component 302 a, the agent monitor module 308, andthe queue status module 316 are each coupled to a presence server 336.The coupling is indicated by arrows associated with a “register” signal328, a “subscribe” signal 330, a worker monitor “notify” signal 332 anda queue status “notify” signal 333. While the signals 328, 330, 332, 333are shown to separately couple to the presence server 336, it should beunderstood that the signals 328, 330, 332, 333 can be provided as asingle coupling having the register signal 328, the subscribe signal330, the notify signal 332, and the notify signal 333. For example, theregister signal 328, the subscribe signal 330, the notify signal 332,and the notify signal 333 can be coupled to the presence server 336through a network, such as through the Internet (not shown).

The call router module 322 is coupled to a network 338 via an “invite”signal 324 and a “redirect” signal 326. While the signals 324, 326 areshown to separately couple the call router 322 to the network 338, itshould be understood that the signals 324, 326 can be provided as asingle coupling having the invite signal 324 and the redirect signal326. The network can be a voice network, for example a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN). In another embodiment, the network 338 is adigital network, for example, the Internet. Further network types willbe readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.

The system 300 also includes one or more agent manager components 152a-152 c. The agent manager component 352 a is representative of all suchagent manager components and is described herein to have modules thesame as or similar to modules provided in others of the agent managercomponents 352 b, 352 c. While three agent manager components 352 a-352c are shown, in other embodiments, the system 300 can include fewer thanthree or more than three agent manager components.

The agent manager component 352 a includes a call handler module 370coupled to an agent status module 362. The agent status module 362 iscoupled to a queue monitor module 358, which is coupled to a dashboard354 for presenting a graphical user interface (not shown) to an agent.The call handler module 370 directs a telephone call 374 to the agent.The call handler module 370 is coupled to the network 338 for receivinginvite signals 350.

The agent manager component 352 a, the queue monitor module 358, and theagent status module 362 are each coupled to the presence server 336. Thecoupling is indicated by arrows associated with a “register” signal 344,a “subscribe” signal 346, a “notify” signal 348, and a “notify” signal349. While the signals 344, 346, 348, 349 are shown to separately coupleto the presence server 336, it should be understood that the signals344, 346, 348, 349 can be provided as a single coupling having theregister signal 344, the subscribe signal 346, the notify signal 348,and the notify signal 349 therein. For example, the register signal 344,the subscribe signal 346, the notify signal 348, and the notify signal349 can be coupled to the presence server 336 through a network, such asthrough the Internet (not shown).

In operation, the ACD group manager component 302 a operates as both apresence entity and as a watcher. Similarly, the agent manager component352 a operates as both a presence entity and a watcher. Operating aspresence entities, both the ACD group manager component 302 a and theagent manager component 352 a register with the presence server 336 byway of the register signal 328 and the register signal 344 respectively.In so registering, the presence server 336 is able to recognize that theACD group manager component 302 a and the agent manager component 352 aare both present and that both are able to communicate with the presenceserver 336. Also in so registering, states, also referred to herein asstatuses, associated with the ACD group manager component 302 a and withthe agent manager component 352 a, are provided to the presence serverand stored in a states memory 334. A state associated with the agentmanager component 352 a can include a variety of information, including,but not limited to, an identity of the agent manager 352 a, anavailability of the agent manager component 352 a (and an agentassociated therewith) to perform a telephone call, a capability of theagent associated with the agent manager component 352 a to perform atelephone call, and contact information associated with the agentmanager component 352 a, for example, a telephone number. Similarly, astate associated with the ACD group manager component 302 a can includea variety of information, including, but not limited to, an identity ofthe ACD group manager component 302 a, and arequested-telephone-call-queue status associated with a number ofrequested telephone calls to be handled. The requested telephone callsto be performed are herein referred to as the requested-telephone-callqueue described above, and the number of requested telephone calls inthe requested-telephone-call queue is herein referred to as therequested-telephone-call-queue status.

Once registered, the ACD group manager component 302 a and the agentmanager component 352 a, and in particular, the agent monitor module 308and the queue monitor module 358, subscribe to the presence server.Subscribing allows the ACD group manager component 302 a and the agentmanager component 352 a to become watchers, allowing each to receivestate, i.e. status, information about the other from the presence servercomponent 336. In particular, the queue monitor module 358 can receivestate information associated with the queue status module 316 via thepresence server component 336 and the agent monitor module 308 canreceive state information associated with the agent status module 362,also via the presence server component 336.

When a requested telephone call 342 is communicated to the network 338,the requested telephone call 342 is communicated as the invite signal324 over the network 338 to the call router module 322. As describedabove, the call router module 322 receives the state information fromthe agent monitor module 308 associated with the state of the agentmanager component 352 a, and in particular receives state informationassociated with an availability of the agent manager component 352 a(and an agent associated therewith) to perform a telephone call. Thecall router module 322 receives from the queue status module 316 therequested-telephone-call queue including a waiting list of requestedtelephone calls not yet assigned to an agent manager component.

When the requested telephone call 342 is received as the invite signal324 as described above, the call router module 322 communicates theincoming requested telephone call to the queue status module 316. Thequeue status module 316 adjusts the status of the appropriate telephonecall queue and communicates a notify signal 333 to the presence servercomponent 336, indicating a change in status, i.e., a change in therequested-telephone-call-queue status, associated with the ATD groupmanager component 302 a, and the new requested-telephone-call-queuestatus is saved in the states memory 334. The presence server component336 communicates the new requested-telephone-call-queue status to theagent manager component 352 a as a notify signal 348.

If the queue status module 316 indicates that agents are available toact upon the request, the call router 322 is able to redirect the invitesignal 324 to an agent manager component 352 a associated with an agentavailable to perform the requested telephone call 342. The invite signal324 is acknowledged with a redirect signal 326 coupled to the network338. The redirect signal 326 emerges from the network 338 as an invitesignal 350 coupled to the call handler module 370 within the agentmanager component 352 a. The call handler module 370 directs the invite350 as a telephone call 374 to an agent.

The call handler module 370 also communicates with the agent statusmodule 362, indicating that the agent manager component 352 a (and theagent associated therewith) is no longer available to perform anothertelephone call. The agent status module 362 communicates a notify signal349 to the presence server 336, indicating a change in state, e.g., achange in availability associated with the agent manager component 352a. The new state is saved in the states memory 334. The presence servercomponent 336 communicates the new state to the ACD group managercomponent 308 as the notify signal 332.

With the above described arrangement, the ACD group manager component302 a and the agent manager component 352 a are each aware of thepresence of the other and each is notified about the status of theother.

In one particular arrangement, the register signals 328, 344, thesubscribe signals 330, 346, and the notify signals 332, 333, 348, 349are provided as instant message signals. The format of the instantmessage signals can be one or more of a variety of types of instantmessage signals, including but not limited to Common Presence andInstant Messaging Protocol (CPIM) signals, America OnLine® InstantMessenger (AIM®) signals, Yahoo® Instant Messenger (YIM®) signals, ICQinstant message signals, Jabber instant message signals, extensiblemarkup presence protocol (XMPP) signals, and session initiation protocol(SIP) instant message signals.

While the system 300 is described above to have a variety of componentsand modules, the system 300 can also depict a software arrangementhaving the ACD group manager component 302 a and the agent managercomponent 352 a, each having instructions for registering, subscribing,and notifying, for example, with an instant message format, to thepresence server 336.

In one embodiment, the agent manager component 352 a corresponds to apersonal computer, workstation, or the like, having software modulestherein, including the call handler module 370, the agent status module362, and the queue status module 358. Similarly, in one embodiment, theACD group manager component 302 a corresponds to a server computer,having software modules therein, including the call router module 322,the queue status module 316, the agent monitor module 308, and theroster module 304. In one embodiment, the presence server 336 is asingle server, for example an instant message server. However, it willbe recognized, that in other embodiments, selected ones of the callrouter module 322, the queue status module 316, the agent monitor module308 and the roster module 304 can be within the presence servercomponent 336. Also, selected ones of the call handler modules 370, theagent status module 362, and the queue monitor module 358 can be withinthe presence server component 336. Other arrangements are also possiblewithout departing from the present invention.

As described above, the dashboard 354 presents a graphical userinterface (not shown) to an agent. The dashboard 354 can present avariety of information to the agent, including but not limited to, anidentity of one or more ACD group managers, for example, the identity ofthe ACD group manager component 302 a, and arequested-telephone-call-queue status, for example a value associatedwith a size of a requested-telephone-call queue contained in the queuemonitor module 358. The dashboard 354 is described in greater detail inconjunction with FIG. 8 below.

With the system 300, it should be appreciated that, unlike aconventional contact center, agents associated with the contact centercan be distributed away form the contact center. Furthermore, it will beappreciated that the “screen pop” having telephone caller informationdescribed in conjunction with FIG. 1 can be provided to the workermanager 352 a by a variety of means, for example via the Internet.Therefore, the agent can receive both telephone calls and screen pops inthe same way as an agent associated with a conventional contact center.

Referring now to FIG. 7, an exemplary method 400 associated with thesystem 300 of FIG. 6 begins at step 402, where at least one ACD groupmanager component is invoked. The ACD group manager component can be thesame as or similar to the ACD group manager component 302 a of FIG. 6.As described above in conjunction with FIG. 6, the ACD group managercomponent 302 a can have a variety of associated modules.

At step 404, at least one agent manager component is invoked. The agentmanager component can be the same as or similar to the agent managercomponent 352 a of FIG. 6. As described above in conjunction with FIG.6, the agent manager component can have a variety of associated modules.

The ACD group manager registers with a presence server at step 406,thereby becoming a presence entity. The presence server can be the sameas or similar to the presence server component 336 of FIG. 6. Asdescribed above, registering the ACD group manager allows the presenceserver to recognize that the ACD group manager is present and alsocommunicates the requested-telephone-call-queue status to the presenceserver.

The agent manager registers with the presence server, thereby becoming apresence entity at step 408. As described above, registering the agentmanager allows the presence server to recognize that agent manager ispresent and also communicates agent status information to the presenceserver. The agent status information includes, but is not limited to, anavailability of the agent to perform a telephone call, and a capabilityof the agent to perform the requested telephone call.

At step 410, the ACD group manager subscribes with the presence server,thereby becoming a watcher. The ACD group manager subscribes in order toreceive the agent status information from the presence server.

The agent manager subscribes with the presence server 336 at step 412,thereby becoming a watcher. The agent manager subscribes in order toreceive the requested-telephone-call-queue status from the presenceserver.

A call router associated with the ACD group manager is notified of theagent status, and in particular is notified of the availability of theagent at step 414. The call router can be the same as or similar to thecall router module 322 shown in FIG. 6.

At step 416, the ACD group manager receives a requested telephone call.The telephone call can be any sort of telephone call. For example, thetelephone call can be work which an agent associated with the agentmanager is capable of performing.

The ACD group manager updates the requested-telephone-call queueassociated with the ACD group manager at step 418 to add the newrequested telephone call. At step 420, the presence server is notifiedof the change in the requested-telephone-call-queue status by the ACDgroup manager. The agent manager is notified at step 422 of the changein the requested-telephone-call-queue status by the presence server.

At step 424, information presented to the agent on a graphical userinterface is updated. The graphical user interface (GUI) can be the sameas or similar to the dashboard 354 shown in FIG. 6. The informationpresented to the agent on the graphical user display can include, but isnot limited to, an identity of the ACD group manager, respectiveidentities of other ACD group managers, therequested-telephone-call-queue status associated with the ACD groupmanager, and other requested-telephone-call-queue statuses associatewith the other ACD group managers.

A decision is made by the ACD group manger at step 426, based upon theagent status presented to the ACD group manager at step 412. If theagent status, which includes the agent availability, indicates that theagent associated with the agent manager is available to perform therequested telephone call, then the process continues to step 428.However, the agent status can include a variety of other information,including but not limited to a capability of the agent to perform therequested telephone call. In another embodiment, the process cancontinue to step 428 only if the agent is both available to perform therequested telephone call and the agent is also capable of performing therequested telephone call.

At step 428, the requested telephone call, received at step 416 by theACD group manager, is re-directed to a call handler associated with theagent manager. The call handler can be the same as or similar to thecall handler module 370 shown in FIG. 6.

The requested telephone call is routed at step 430 from the call handleras a telephone call to the agent. The telephone call can be the same asor similar to the telephone call 374 shown in FIG. 6. At step 432, thepresence server is notified of a change in the agent status associatedwith the agent. In essence, the agent has now become unavailable.

The ACD group manager is notified by the presence server at step 434 ofthe change in the agent status. Therefore, the ACD group manger becomesaware that the agent is not presently available to receive anotherrequested telephone call should one be presented to the ACD groupmanager. If another requested telephone call is received before therequested telephone call is completed by the agent associated with theagent manager, the other requested telephone call can be re-directed toanother agent associated with another agent manager.

The process loops at step 436 until the agent associated with the agentmanager finishes the requested telephone call and again becomesavailable. At step 438, the agent manager notifies the presence serverwhen the agent associated with the agent manager completes the requestedtelephone call and again becomes available. The presence server notifiesthe ACD group manager at step 440 that the agent associated with theagent manager is available to receive another requested telephone call.

If, at step 426, the agent is not available, the requested telephonecall is routed to another call handler at step 442, associated withanother agent manager and another agent. The steps 444-454 arecomparable to the steps 430-440 but apply to another agent rather thanthe agent discussed above. Therefore, steps 444-454 are not described indetail.

Referring now to FIG. 8, an exemplary dashboard 500 can be the same asor similar to the dashboard 354 shown in FIG. 6. The exemplary dashboard500 includes five columns 502, 504, 506, 508, 510. Selected ones of thecheck boxes 502 a-502 e are selected (checked) by an agent, enabling theagent to receive telephone calls in subject areas represented bycategories 504 a-504 d. The categories 504 a-504 d correspond toidentities of ACD group manager components. For example, the category504 a can correspond to the identity of a particular ACD group managerrepresented by the ACD group manager 302 a of FIG. 6. The othercategories 504 b-504 d can correspond to other ACD group managers.

The categories 504 a-504 d can correspond to categories for which theagent is deemed to be capable of properly responding to associatedrequested telephone calls. As shown, the agent associated with thedashboard 500 is deemed to be capable of properly responding totelephone calls associated with “Hardware Support,” “Software Support,”“Billing Inquiry,” and “Order Processing.” While these categories can beassociated with a single organization, they can equally well beassociated with more than one organization, wherein the name of theorganization can also be displayed.

Requested-telephone-call-queue statuses 506 a-506 d indicate arespective length associated with a requested-telephone-call queueassociated with each category 506 a-506 d. For example, therequested-telephone-call-queue status 506 a indicates that there are twotelephone calls waiting in the category 504 a, Hardware Support. Anumber-of-agents value 508 a-508 b can be displayed to indicate thetotal number of agents present (but not necessarily available) toreceive a requested telephone call associated with a respectivecategory. For example, the number-of-agents value 508 a indicates thatthere are two agents present to receive requested telephone calls in thecategory 504 a, Hardware Support. Time values 510 a-510 d indicate anage of the oldest requested telephone call in a requested-telephone-callqueue in a respective category, i.e., a telephone call hold time. Forexample, the time value 510 a indicates that oldest telephone call inthe requested-telephone-call queue associated with the Hardware Supportcategory is only five seconds old.

A worker status value 512 can indicate a variety of agent statuses,including, but not limited to “on a call,” “available,” and “notavailable.” A time value 516 indicates a length of time associated witha telephone call that the agent is currently handling. A call type value514 indicates a category associated with the telephone call that theagent is currently handling.

Having described preferred embodiments of the invention it will nowbecome apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that otherembodiments incorporating these concepts may be used. Additionally, thesoftware included as part of the invention may be embodied in a computerprogram product that includes a computer usable medium. For example,such a computer usable medium can include a readable memory device, suchas a hard drive device, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or a computer diskette,having computer readable program code segments stored thereon. Thecomputer readable medium can also include a communications link, eitheroptical, wired, or wireless, having program code segments carriedthereon as digital or analog signals. Accordingly, it is submitted thatthe invention should not be limited to the described embodiments butrather should be limited only by the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims. All publications and references cited herein are expresslyincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

1. A method of assigning a requested task associated with anorganization to an available worker, comprising: providing a taskmanager for receiving the requested task, for storing a requested-taskqueue status associated with the requested task, for storing a workerstatus, and for routing the requested task to an available worker;providing a worker manager associated with the worker for storing theworker status and for receiving the requested task; providing a presenceserver associated as an intermediary with the task manager and workermanager, the task manager and the worker manager each being registeredwith the presence server to supply status information to the presenceserver and each subscribing to the presence server for receiving statusinformation sent to the presence server from the other of the managers;receiving the requested task with the task manager; updating therequested-task queue status in accordance with the requested task;sending the updated requested-task-queue status from the task manager tothe presence server; sending the requested-task-queue status from thepresence server to the worker manager; sending the worker status fromthe worker manager to the presence server; sending the worker status tothe task manager from the presence server; the task manager determiningfrom the worker status provided to the task manager an availability of aworker to perform the requested task; the task manager selecting anavailable worker to be assigned the received task; directing thereceived requested task from the task manager to the worker managerassociated with the selected available worker; directing the requestedtask from the worker manager to the available worker; changing thestatus of the available worker receiving the requested task; sending thechange in worker status associated with the available worker from theworker manager to the presence server; sending the change in workerstatus from the presence server to the task manager; and updating thestored worker status in the task manager in accordance with the changein worker status.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the organizationcomprises a contact center, the task manager comprises an automatic calldistributor (ACD) group manager, the worker is a contact center agent,the requested task comprises a requested telephone call, therequested-task queue comprises a telephone call queue, therequested-task-queue status comprises a number of telephone calls in thetelephone-call queue, the worker status comprises a contact center agentstatus, the task manager further comprises a telephone call router, theworker manager comprises a contact center agent manager, and the workermanager further comprises a telephone call handler directing therequested task to the available worker.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising a second task manager and a second worker managereach associated with the presence server and sending status informationto the presence server and receiving status information from thepresence server and wherein at least one of the task managers and workermanagers communicates with the presence server through an instantmessage protocol.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the instant messageprotocol comprises at least one of a common presence and instant messageprotocol (CPIM), a jabber protocol, an extensible markup presenceprotocol (XMPP), a session initiation protocol (SIP), an ICQ protocol,and a SIMPLE protocol.
 5. The method of claim 1, further includinggenerating a graphical user interface (GUI) in the worker managerindicating at least one of the requested-task-queue status and anidentity of the task manager.
 6. The method of claim 1, furtherincluding: determining from the worker status a capability of the workerto perform the requested task; the task manager selecting a worker inaccordance with the availability of the worker and with the capabilityof the worker; and directing the requested task to the worker managerassociated with the selected worker.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinat least one of the receiving the requested task and the directing therequested task to the worker manager are provided over a first network.8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first network comprises a selectedone of a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and a digital network.9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the updating therequested-task queue, the sending to the presence server therequested-task-queue status, the sending to the worker manager therequested-task-queue status, the sending to the presence server thechange in worker status, and the notifying sending to the task managerthe change in worker status are provided over a second network.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the second network comprises a digitalnetwork.
 11. A computer system for assigning a requested task associatedwith an organization to an available worker, comprising: a task managercomponent to receive the requested task, to recognize when a worker isavailable, to select an available worker and to route the requested taskto the available worker, the task manager component having: a workermonitor for recognizing a worker status associated with the worker, arequested-task queue monitor for providing a requested-task queue havinga requested-task-queue status, and a task router coupled to therequested-task queue monitor to route the requested task to an availableworker, a worker manager component associated with a worker forproviding a worker status and for receiving the requested task, theworker manager component having a task handler for providing thereceived requested task to the worker; and a presence server componentassociated as an intermediary with the task manager and worker manager,the task manager and the worker manager each being registered with thepresence server to supply status information to the presence server andeach subscribing to the presence server for receiving status informationsent to the presence server from the other of the managers, the presenceserver receiving the requested-task-queue status from the task managercomponent and receiving the worker status from the worker managercomponent and sending the worker status to the worker monitor of thetask manager component and sending the requested-task-queue status tothe worker manager component.
 12. The computer system of claim 11,wherein the organization comprises a contact center, the task managercomponent comprises an automatic call distributor (ACD) group manager,the worker status comprises a contact center agent status, the workercomprises a contact center agent, the requested-task queue monitorcomprises a telephone-call queue, the requested task is a telephonecall, the requested-task queue comprises a requested-telephone-callqueue, the requested-task-queue status comprises telephone calls in therequested-telephone-call queue, and the task router comprises atelephone call router.
 13. The computer system of claim 11, furthercomprising a second task manager component and a second worker managercomponent each associated with the presence server and sending statusinformation to the presence server and receiving status information fromthe presence server that was sent to the presence server by anothermanager and wherein the presence server component communicates with atleast one of the task manager components and the worker managercomponents with an instant message protocol.
 14. The computer system ofclaim 13, wherein the instant message protocol comprises at least one ofan AOL® Instant Message (AIM®), a Yahoo® Instant Messenger (YIM®)protocol, a common presence and instant message protocol (CPIM), ajabber protocol, an extensible markup presence protocol (XMPP), asession initiation protocol (SIP), and an ICQ protocol.
 15. The computersystem of claim 11 wherein the worker manager component has: a queuemonitor for recognizing a requested-task queue having a requested task;and a worker status monitor coupled to the queue monitor for providingthe worker status associated with the worker to the presence servercomponent.